PROCTOR PROKESCH-OSTEN 27 For several years he was a commissioner in lunacy, resigning in 1 86 1 . His first publication was a volume entitled " Dramatic Scenes and other Poems" (1819), which was followed by " Marcian Colonna, an Italian Tale ; with three Dramatic Scenes, and other Poems " (1820) ; " A Sicilian Story, with Diego de Montilla and other Poems " (1820) ; " Mirandola, a Tragedy" (1821); "The Flood of Thessaly and other Poems;" "Poetical Works" (3 vols., 1822); "Effigies Poeticse" (1824); "English Songs and other Small Poems" (1832); "Life of Edmund Ivean" (1835); "Essays and Tales in Prose "(1851); and " Charles Lamb, a Memoir" (1866). His "Mirandola" was produced with success at Covent Garden in 1821. He is best known by his songs, some of which are singu- larly well adapted to music, and are equally refined in sentiment and diction. All his pub- lications appeared under his assumed name of Barry Cornwall. II. Adelaide Anne, a poetess, daughter of the preceding, born in London, Oct. 30, 1825, died there, Feb. 2, 1864. She published " Legends and Lyrics, a Book of Verse" (1858), and "A Second Volume of Legends and Lyrics" (1860). Both series with new poems appeared in one volume in 1865, with an introduction by Charles Dickens. PROCTOR (Lat. procurator, agent), in a gen- eral sense, one who is commissioned to man- age the business of another. In a particular sense, a proctor is one who is commissioned to transact the business of his principal in the ecclesiastical or admiralty courts. He dis- charges functions similar to those of attorneys and solicitors in other courts. In England, the proctor can be admitted to practice only after a clerkship of seven years with a senior proctor of at least five years' standing, and he must produce a certificate of considerable pro- ficiency in classical education. Before the abo- lition of the probate and matrimonial courts of doctors' commons, the proctors were the only persons allowed to practise in them. (See DOCTORS' COMMONS.) Proctors are known in the United States only as officers of the courts of admiralty, whose duties, authority, and re- sponsibilities correspond to those of attorneys at law. The name proctor is also given in England, and in some American colleges, to university officers whose duty is to guard mor- als and order. PROCTOR, Richard Anthony, an English astron- omer, born in Chelsea, March 23, 1837. He was educated at home until his llth year, and then entered an academy in Milton-on-Thames, where he remained three years and became head boy of the institution. After the death of his father in 1850 the family became embar- rassed through chancery delays in a friendly suit, and in 1854 Richard accepted a clerkship in a London bank, devoting all his spare time to the study of mathematics. In 1855, the situation of the family having been improved, he entered King's college, London, and in 1856 St. John's college, Cambridge. He took his degree in 1860, and married in the same year. For the next three years his studies were mostly historical and literary. In 1863 he wrote an essay on " Double Stars," which appeared in the "Cornhill Magazine." In 1865 he pub- lished a monograph on " Saturn," and early in 1866 his "Gnomonic Star Atlas" and "Hand- book of the Stars." These works were of a scientific, but not popular nature. In 1866, by the failure of a bank in London, he lost the whole of his fortune, and his scientific work was considerably hampered by duties arising from this circumstance. In 1869 he made some suggestions to the astronomer royal, Sir George Airy, as to the best method of observ- ing the approaching transit of Venus ; and at a meeting of the principal astronomers of Eng- land at the Greenwich observatory in 1873 his views were unanimously approved. But his chief scientific work since 1867 has consisted in the investigation of the evidence available for determining the structure of the stellar and neb- ular universe. (See STAR.) In 1870 Mr. Proc- tor published a work entitled " Other Worlds than Ours," which had an extraordinary suc- cess and attracted the general attention of the scientific world. From that time he has been perhaps the most fertile and popular writer upon astronomical subjects of the present day. In 1873 he visited the United States and de- livered lectures, and again in 1875. His pub- lished books besides those above mentioned are : " Constellation Seasons " and " Sun Views of the Earth " (London, 1867) ; " Half Hours with the Telescope " (1868) ; " Half Hours with the Stars" (1869); "The Sun," a large "Star Atlas," "Elementary Astronomy," and "Light Science for Leisure Hours" (1870); "Essays on Astronomy " and " Orbs Around Us " (1871) ; "Chart of 324,000 Stars," "School Atlas of Astronomy," and "Elementary Physical Geog- raphy" (1872); "Light Science," &c., second series, "The Moon," and "Border Land of Science " (1873) ; and " The Universe and Com- ing Transits," "Transits of Venus, Past, Pres- ent, and Future," and "The Expanse of Heav- en "(1874). PROFERT. See OTER. PROHIBITION, a writ issued by a superior court to restrain the action of an inferior tri- bunal which is assuming to act in some matter not within its cognizance, or in disregard of the rules which govern the exercise of its jurisdiction. It is an extraordinary remedy, to which resort seldom becomes necessary. PROJECTILES. See GUNNERY. PROKESCH-OSTEN, Anton YOU, baron, a German author, born in Gratz, Dec. 10, 1795. In early life he served in the army, taught mathematics, and was secretary to Prince Schwarzenberg, whose Denkwurdigkeiten he edited in 1822. For his subsequent services in the East he was ennobled with the name of Von Osten, and at a later period was made privy councillor and general. He was ambassador at Athens 1834- '49, Berlin 1849-'52, Frankfort 1853-'5, and
